Bulk storage system



July 19, 1960 Filed July l, 1957 w. D.. coE ETAL 2,945,271

BULK STORAGE SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ['*f/j n HEg/v 7- BULK STORAGESYSTEM William D. Coe and Howard S. Murray, Milton-Freewater,

Oreg.; said Murray assigner to said Coe Filed July 1, 1957, Ser. No.669,158

2 Claims. (Cl. 21-109) such material from onestorage location to anotherre-v quires that the loose material be taken from one large bin in aloose condition, loaded in a bin type conveyance of some type and thenunloaded in a loose condition at a newly desired location. Again, whenit .was desired to clean such material, a similar'procedure was used totransport the grain or seed'to a cleaning plantrwhere it was cleaned,sacked and, if desired, fumigated in an air tight chamber while in thesacked condition. These prior art methods required large money outlaysin permanent installations and much time and labor expense in handling.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide means for reducingthe fixed capital required for the provision of facilities for the bulkstorage of grain and to reduce the cost of time and labor involved inhandling, treating and storing the grain.

It is a second object to provide a plurality of standardized metal boxesor cells which may be handled conveniently by a modern type of lifttruck, which cells can be stored in multiples on any flat hard surfaceand which can be transported on any at conveying surface.

It is a third object to provide such cells each of which has acompletely open top and to provide a simple top cover which can bestored, stacked or handled-conveniently yin multiples thereof but whichare individually light in weight and easy for one man to apply to anindividual cell.

VIt is a fourth object to provide such a cell formed of metal plate andshapes in simple form requiring a minirnum of material.

it is a fth object to provide such a cell generally rectangular in overall plan and side elevation, one side of the cell having a hole formedtherethrough near its i upper edge with cover means for the holerotatably secured to the side for rotation between two positions ofcover for the hole with uncover positions between the two coverpositions.

It is a sixth object to provide such a cell with a hole through an upperside wall and means for alternately covering said hole with a verminproof breather screen 2,945,271 Patented July 19, 1960 Yice -hole ineach cell for breathing or fumigation accessible on the outside of thetwo cell wide stack.

It is an eighth object to provide such cells with laterally spacedsupporting means on the bottoms thereof to provide sufficient separationof the cells in vertical stacks for placing the supporting forks of alift truck and for maintaining the bottom cell of the stack oi thesupporting ground or other supporting surface.

1t is a ninth object to provide a fountain needle for penetrating ,therubber grommet cover of the hole in the side of such a cell for thepurpose of injecting a fumigating iluid into the cell.

lIt is a tenth object to provide such a needle with a storage chamberfor uid under pressure, an intermediate measuring chamber for 4closes ofsuch fluid and means for alternately opening said measuring chamber tothe storage chamber and to the needle.

How these and .other objects are attained are explained in the followingdescription referring `to the attached drawings in which n v U Fig.lfshows a storage yard of this 'system in which spaced blocks oflaterally, longitudinally and vertically closely spaced cells aretiered. t

Fig. Z'shows an enlarged side view of the fragment 2 of one of the cellblocks of Fig. l.

Fig.v 3 shows a sectional view along the line Fig. 2. p

, Fig. 4 is a view in side elevation of the novel fountain needle usedfor fumgation of the material stored in accordance with the system ofthis invention;

Like numerals of reference refer tolke parts in the several figures ofthe drawings.

Referring now to the drawings, in Fig. l is shown a storage yard inaccordance with the present system in which a hard flat platform havingany suitable surface like concrete, black top, wood or well drained andrammed earth supports multiples of the cells of this invention tiered asshown in blocks two cells wide, four cells high, and of any desiredlength but preferably not over 25 cells long. Since the cellsindividually are preferably cubes of four foot overall dimensions thepreferred block of cells would be 8 ft. wide, 16 ft. high and ft. long.The width limitation is fixed by the re quirement that each cell mustface on an aisle. The height limitation is not xed but is a practicallimitation for the use of commonly available lift trucks. The lengthlimitation is not xed but it is found that-fifty feet is a good limitfor a lift truck to work into an aisle of minimum width. The aisle widthshould be about 12 feet to give working space for the lift truck.

Fig. 2 shows an enlarged side View of the fragment 2 taken from thenearest cell block shown in Fig. l. VIn Fig. 2 are shown a frontelevation of cell 12 and fragments of cells 11 and 13 withV the cellsstacked as shown i-n Fig. l.

As. shown for cell 12.v in Fig. 2, each of the cells is in the form of ahollow rectangular truncated pyramid open at the top and formed of about16 gage steel sheets. The cell is reinforced around the top with a metalangle 14 about 3 inch by 3 inch in size and welded to the side -1 '24isV such as to allow ventilation E sheets. Welded to the underside ofthe bottoni sheet 1S of the cell in laterally spaced parallel relationare three Ueshaped supporting skids lo. These details are not shown inthe schematic yard drawing of Fig. l.

Between each of the vertically stacked cells is a cover 17 made of anysuitable material of which hardboard such as Masonite three sixteenthinches thick has been found satisfactory. Such covers are placed overthe iilled cell whenever there is likelihood that thecontents might beharmed or contaminated. When the `cell isfhandled with the cover on, thecover i7 is sealedall aroundr the edge to thecell top angle 14 with anysuitable a'dhesively applied, tape such as the tape used in sealingi theenclosures of spaces to be fumigated. To eliminate congestion ofunnecessary drawing detail the sealing. tape is not shown in thefigures.

WihenV grain is handled andstored during the harvest season, the cellsof grain are -usuallynot covered until brought to the storage yard andplaced in position. Then theV cell is covered with a cover 17 beforethenext upper cell is placed on the cover effectively toy hold the covertightly on the cell. In this caseV the top cells of the block have theircovers held onby sealing or other desired method.

Rotatably secured to each of the cells as shown for cell 12in Figs. 2and 3 is a cover strap .'i held by shouldered bo1tl9 as shown. Equallydistant from bolt 19, strap l hasformed therethrough two countersunkholesti and 2l either. of which may be placed in register with holeZformed in the front wall of cell 112. Secured between strap dandthe faceof cel-112, in hole 20 as shown, lis a grommet or thick edged rubberdiaphragm Z3 which will hermetically seal hole22 when strap 18 isrotated to Yregister holes vZiiand Z2. Secured between strap h and thevfaceof cell 12 in hole '21 asshown is a rdisk of iinemetal screen 24'ofmesh small enough to prevent and vermin from entering hole 22V whenstrap 18v is rotated to register holes 20 and 2li. However, the'mesh ofscreen of the interior of the cell. l l 'y In Fig. 4 is shown thenoveland useful device for fumigation of bull; vgrain in accordance withthe teaching of this invention. A commercial container inwhich thefumigation material methyl bromide is purchased is shown at 25 in astirrup 25 formed with a threaded hole'at 27 to receive a threadednipple Z8. The closure of container Z5 at its neck 29 is so formed withadisplacement valvev that when nipple 23 is screwed tightly into neck 29through strap 27 the interior of container 25 is opened to the interiorof nipple 23. Thus in renewing the supply of methyl bromide by replacingthe containerZS, thenipple 28 is left connected to inlet 37 of three wayvalve 3) and stirrup 26 is unscrewed from nipple 28 to release container25. Then a new container 25 is placed in Vstirrup Z6, and stirrup 26 isscrewed into nipple 28 sutlicientlyY far to open the interior ofcontainer 25 to the interior of nippleZS.

Transparent measuringchamber 31 graduated as shown at 32 and sealed`into fitting 33 is connected to thecommon opening 38 of three way valve30 by nipple 34. Hollow needle 35 having dischargeopenings 36is.threadedly secured into opening 39 of valvev 30. When handle 4t) ofvalve is pointed directlyr upward a path is opened fromk the methylbromide storage chamber 25 to the measuring chamber 32 and whenhandle 40is pointed `directly in linerwith needle the needle 3'5- is con necteddirectly with chamber32. It should be remembered that methyl bromide isa liquid at usual atmospheric pressures and'temperature near-the`freezingv temperature of water but at lower pressures or highertemperatures the bromide will ybe in its gas phase. Then at sayl 50.degrees Fahrenheit temperature and 29 to 30 inches ofHg atmosphericpressure, `if the fumigation device is held by stirrup handle 41 in theupright position shown and valve handle is pointed towards container25the vapor phase of the bromide will aid gravity in pressing thebromide in its liquid phase into measuring chamber 32 which can besupplied with the desired amount of liquid forrone fumigation dose asindicated on the graduation scale 32. When the proper charge has beenmeasured, the handle itl can be moved to its intermediate position shownor if the pointed end of the needle 35 with its opening 36 is in thespace to be fumigated the valvehandle 423 can be moved to its positionof alignment with needle 35 and the bromide discharged from chamber 3lIthrough needle 35 and out of openings 36. The bromide will dischargefor whenvalve stem 4@ is moved to connect chamber 3l withneedle 35 thepressure in chamber 31 is immediately reduced to atmosphere, the bromidein chamber Slinits liquid phaseitrnnediately changes to its vaporphaseand-expands so greatly in volume as to be almost entirely,discharged, through needle openings 3-5.

When it is desired tofumigate the gratin in one of the cells or bulkstorage-containersfthe operator rotates the strap 18 to registerdiaphragm 23 with hole 22 and then shoves the needle 35 through thediaphragm 23. A dose of fumigant is then measured into chamber 3l byturning valve handle it? upward towards container 25. When the desiredamount offumigant is seenin chamber 3l valve handle 4t) is pointedtowards needle 35 Yand the fumigant in chamber 31 volatilizes anddischarges out holesi 36 of needle 35 into the cell. The needle 35 iswithdrawn from the diaphragm 23 which seals its-elf within therequirements of the umigation process.

lt is thus seen that this Yinvention provides for cereal grains andgrass seeds, bulk storage in multiples of stand- Yardized lots the lotsbeing lcontained in easily handled,

transported, stored andjfumigatedcells of a unique utility and providedwith 'means for Ventilating or hermetically sealing the cells. j

Having recited some of the objects of the invention disclosed anddescribed preferred'orms of the structures involvedY in the practice ofthe invention and described their'operation, we claim:

1. A bulk storage system including the combination oi a hollow opentopped box for'the storage of seed grain and means for fumigating theseed grain while stored in said box, said box being formed with aninspection hole on one side thereof near said top and a pairof parallellaterally spaced skids for supporting said box with its bottom above asupport for said skids, said combination including means adaptedselectively to screen said hole to allow said box to breathe whileexcluding vermin from -said box and to cover said hole with a selfclosing puncturable diaphragm, and cover means removably scalable overthe top of said box, said fumigating means including ahollow needle`adapted to be pressure entered. into said box through satiddaphragm,said needle having a blunt open end va closed-,pointed end and an outlethole through a side wall thereof near its pointed end, together with astorage container for liquid umigant, a dose measuring container belowsaid storage container for liquid fumigant, conduit means connecting thelower end of said storage container with the upper end of said dosecontainer, said conduit including meansrfor alternately Vfilling saiddose measuring container from said storage container and emptying saiddose measuring container of Vtiuid fumigant through said needle intosaid box, said storage centainer including therewith a carrying handleformamtainingsaid storage container at a higher elevation than vsaiddose container.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATNTS MathyJuly 16, 19011 Rayson Mar. 15, 1932 Manning Oct. 3, 1933 Houghton Mar.29, 1938 Richert May 2, 1939 Vogel v Feb. 1, 1949 Crooks May 10, 1949vBerliner Aug. 5, 1952 Denning Apr. 21, 1953 Martin Nov. 27, 1956Denning Jan. 8, 1957 Zar Nov. 5, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Mar. 29,1954

